The invention relates to an apparatus for the continuous singling of stacks of loose sheet goods, in particular bank notes, vouchers, checks, separation cards etc.
Upon the processing of bank notes with bank-note processing machines, great importance is attached to the preparation of bank notes to be processed, in particular to the optimally trouble-free inserting of loose bank notes into an input pocket of a singler of the employed bank-note processing machine. As a rule, the loose bank notes are formed by an operator into stacks which are inserted into the input pocket of the singler in order that the bank notes can be grasped individually by the singler. The individual bank notes are subsequently processed in the bank-note processing machine. For this purpose, the properties of the bank notes are ascertained by sensors, for example their type, i.e. denomination and currency, their authenticity, their state, i.e. soiling, defects, etc., their suitability for further circulation, their position and orientation etc. Further processing of the bank notes is effected in dependence on the ascertained properties, e.g. they are sorted into certain output pockets or destroyed by means of a shredder if the bank notes are too damaged or soiled so as to no longer be suitable for further circulation.
If it is necessary to separate different groups of bank notes from each other, e.g. bank notes coming from different depositors, so-called separation cards are inserted between the bank notes of the different depositors. These separation cards can be recognized by the sensors of the employed bank-note processing machine to separate the bank notes of the different deposits from each other. The separation cards can furthermore have information which can likewise be detected by the sensors, which characterizes the different depositors, so that the different deposits can be associated with the particular depositor.
From WO 2009/033655 A1 there is known an apparatus for singling sheet goods wherein sheet goods to be singled are put into an input pocket. The input pocket is engaged by two feeding elements of rake-like configuration moving vertically and horizontally within the input pocket which effectuate that the singling of sheet goods can be effected without interruption, because further sheet goods can already be inserted into the input pocket when the previously inserted sheet goods have not yet been completely singled. For this purpose, the described feeding element alternatingly engage the input pocket and alternatingly transport sheet goods into the singling position. To enlarge the restricted receiving capacity of the input pocket, an area is provided for the receiving of sheet goods to be singled, which is divided into a first subarea and a second subarea, which forms the input pocket, wherein first and second subarea border on each other. Due to the first subarea bordering on the input pocket, the intake capacity of the apparatus for the continuous singling of sheet goods is substantially increased so that substantially more sheet goods can be inputted than into the input pocket alone.
With the known apparatus it has turned out, however, that the area enlarged by the first subarea can cause problems for the receiving of sheet goods upon the processing because it can occur that sheet goods undesirably leave the first subarea, which is why these sheet goods cannot be processed properly.